Spain accused of anti-Semitism after Netanyahu effigy blown up

A giant effigy of Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was blown up in the Spanish town of El Burgo during a decades-old local ceremony. The seven-meter (23-foot) figure, packed with 14 kilograms (31 lb) of gunpowder, was blasted on 5 April in the small town near Málaga, Mayor Maria Dolores Narvaez told local television. Israel said on Saturday (11 April) it had reprimanded Spain's most senior diplomat in Tel Aviv over the incident. "The appalling antisemitic hatred on display here is a direct result of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's government's systemic incitement," Israel's Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X. In response, a Spanish foreign ministry source said: "The Spanish government is committed to fighting against antisemitism and any form of hate or discrimination. As such we totally reject any insidious allegation which suggests the contrary."